Geo–economic variations in epidemiology, ventilation management and outcome of patients receiving intraoperative ventilation during general anesthesia– posthoc analysis of an observational study in 29 countries

Abstract

Background: The aim of this analysis is to determine geo–economic variations in epidemiology, ventilator settings and outcome in patients receiving general anesthesia for surgery. Methods: Posthoc analysis of a worldwide study in 29 countries. Lower and upper middle–income countries (LMIC and UMIC), and high–income countries (HIC) were compared. The coprimary endpoint was the risk for and incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC); secondary endpoints were intraoperative ventilator settings, intraoperative complications, hospital stay and mortality. Results: Of 9864 patients, 4% originated from LMIC, 11% from UMIC and 85% from HIC. The ARISCAT score was 17.5 [15.0–26.0] in LMIC, 16.0 [3.0–27.0] in UMIC and 15.0 [3.0–26.0] in HIC (P =.003). The incidence of PPC was 9.0% in LMIC, 3.2% in UMIC and 2.5% in HIC (P